The mission RA-2 has an essential role to play in the Envisat mission, as indicated in Table 1. Operating over oceans, its data can be used to monitor seasurface topography, thereby supporting research into ocean circulation and sea-level change, as well as providing observations of the sea floor structure or shape, and marine geoid characteristics. It will also be possible to determine near-se...

monitoring of water levels within the seas and oceans has been enhanced by application of satellite radar altimetry missions, compared to the traditional in-situ tide gauge measurements, due to their vast coverage and better spatial resolution. satellite radar altimetry, which is originally designed to measure global ocean surface height, has been applied to inland surface water hydrologic stud...

LASER ALTIMETER. S. J. Kadish, C. I. Fassett, J. W. Head, D. E. Smith, M. T. Zuber, G. A. Neumann, E. Mazarico. Dept. of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, Solar System Exploration Division, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771. (Seth_K...

NASA launched its Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) in January 2003. The primary goal of this laser altimeter mission is to provide determination of volumetric changes in the ice sheets, specifically in Antarctica and Greenland. The instrument performance requirements are driven by the scientific goal of determining a change in elevation on the centimetre level over the course of...

The Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA), developed for the 2004 MESSENGER mission to Mercury, is designed to measure the planet's topography by laser ranging. A description of the MLA optical system and its measured optical performance during instrument-level and spacecraft-level integration and testing are presented.

A trihedral corner reflector has been used to evaluate the capability of passive reflectors calibrate radar altimeters such as Poseidon-4 altimeter on board Sentinel-6A. The location, placed top a mountain ridge and about 4-km off-nadir Sentinel-6A subsatellite track, allows capturing echoed signals with Signal-to-Clutter Ratio around 40 dB when processing received data Fully-Focussed SAR algor...